Is the Premier League still the best in the world?

We've just seen two breath-taking Champions League semi-finals in which two Bundesliga teams in Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich destroyed Real Madrid and Barcelona, the Spanish giants. The question now is, what is the best league in the world?

Since the formation of the English Premiership in 1992 and BSkyB pumping so much money into the league through TV rights, the English League has always been seen as the place to play. However, with the English teams struggling in Europe's top competition this year is there now a good reason to question which country has the superior footballing league?

For entertainment value, I don't think you can look past the Premiership in recent years. Sergio Aguero sealing the championship with the last kick of the game in 2012. Tevez keeping West Ham from relegation on the final day in 2007. Philippe Albert scoring "the chip" in Newcastle's 5-0 demolition of Manchester United. The Liverpool-Newcastle with the epic 4-3 thriller in 1996. These are just some of the reasons why the Premiership tops any other league for entertainment values.

For footballing talent however, that is a different matter.

The Premiership for so long has been a "Top 4" league. Yes, the demise of Liverpool and Tottenham and Everton's recent improvement, along with the huge money of Manchester City have seen the league become a bit more open. But besides that, the Premiership is simply becoming a business league. Sheiks and wealthy businessmen are only interested in the Premiership to turn over a profit. This is being reflected on the International stage.

Spain and Germany's football in the International tournaments is second to none. Spain's dominance at international level is beyond repute and with Germany's young team up on the rise and putting in some impressive performances in the big tournaments, it doesn't really surprise me that the four teams in the semi-finals are from these two countries.

Spain and Germany promote players from within their youth academies. If you look at the four Champions League Semi-finalists you will see that the majority of the players in their team have played for the club at youth level. Madrid may be a bit of an exception in terms of buying more players, but they aren't buying foreign talent. Mostly Spanish players play in Spain and German players are playing in Germany. This culture of trusting in youth products is, in my eyes, making the Bundesliga and La Liga start to pull away from the Premiership.

When was the last time England produced multiple world-class talents? Rooney? Wilshere? Besides that, there isn't really anyone else you could name, who is at the top level and still so young. Dortmund have; Reus, Götze, Hummels and Sven Bender. Bayern have; Müller, Lahm and Schweinsteiger. Barcelona have Messi, Xavi and Iniesta. 

                                                                          Mario Götze and Marco Reus

Out of that list, Dortmund have invested heavily in their youth and it has been proven this year. Three times they turned over Madrid in the Champions League. Was it worth it? Of course, the performances by the young German team, not just in the Champions League but in the Bundesliga in recent years, have shown that the Premiership may be more watchable, but for pure talent the Bundesliga is number one.

Some may argue that Serie A is just as good as the Spanish or German Leagues, but the days of the Italian powerhouses have gone. In the mid-90's British television use to show "Gazzetta Football Italia" when the Italian League was at it's height. Those would be the days when Italian teams would poach the best players from across the world. The Zidane's, Henry's and Viera's have all played in Serie A. Now though, it seems like Italy is more of a backwater for footballing talent and the national side is not what it once was.

There is no doubt in my mind that the days of the Premiership being the best league in the world have long gone. Germany and Spain are the new leaders. For entertainment, I don't think anything can compare to the English League, but for pure footballing talent you have to look at the Leagues on the continent.

You're Just A One-Man Team

The days of playing two strikers who complimented each other have well and truly died out. You no longer hear of classic center forward partnerships such as Shearer and Ferdinand, Bergkamp and Henry or Yorke and Cole.

Teams in the Premiership and across Europe have changed formation from 4-4-2 to make 4-5-1/4-3-3 the norm. The lack of a striking partnership and the need for goals from the midfield has left the question to be asked, how many clubs are a one-man team?

Gareth Bale has single handedly kept Tottenham’s aspiration for automatic Champions League football alive this season. Breath taking performances from the Welsh international has seen him mention in the same breath as Ronaldo and Messi. I think it is harsh to call Spurs a one-man club, but without Bale I believe they would be a mid-table club rather than challenging in the top four.

Liverpool for a period of time solely relied on Steven Gerrard. The red’s captain has two finals named after him, Champions League Final in 2005 and the F.A cup final in 2006. Gerrard carried Liverpool for a number of games when he had to produce a bit of magic to get the red side of Merseyside 3 points.

This has now changed with the arrival of Suarez and co. coming to help support Gerrard. Suarez at times took over the label of one-man team when Gerrard was out through injury. But it is fair to say that Liverpool as a one-man team have started to be removed.

When Robin Van Persie was at Arsenal it certainly was a case of one-man Van. The loss of Fabregas and Nasri hurt the Gunners, and Arsene Wenger’s reluctantly to spend big in the transfer market saw the red side of London rely on the big Dutch striker more than any other team has in the past.

One of Van Persie’s reasons for leaving was because he wanted to win trophies. Something one player cannot do in Europe’s top footballing league. Depth in squad is key to winning a title.

Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole, prolific goal-scroing partnership

It’s not just at the top where one-man teams prevail. If we look at West Ham in 2007 the only player people will remember from that squad is Carlos Tevez. The Argentinean striker scored seven goals in the Hammer’s last 10 games, including the winner at Old Trafford to keep West Ham in the premiership.

At the end of the day it is a matter of opinion and the fans who start the “one-man team” chants. But how many teams can say they would not one than one player who cannot light up a game for them. Are Fulham happy that they don’t have one player who is above the rest? Can Aston Villa shout of the rooftops because they do not have one player who can score 29 goals a season?

It’s a question that can have many answers. My personal opinion is that if one player is firing in all the goals and leading your club to glory, then what is the problem.

Does Politics Belong in Football?

With Sunderland hiring Paolo Di Canio as manager this week, his political affiliation has come into question. Di Canio, a perceived fascist has caused a lot of controversy at the historic Teesside club. Left wing politician and foreign secretary David Miliband stepped down from Sunderland’s board of directors this week because of Di Canio’s hiring.

The question then is raised does politics belong in the beautiful game?

Politics and football is not something that is new to the sport. Over the last 100 years there have been many counts of politics entering the game. Whether that be right wing fascist salutes in Russia and Greece, or politicians in Italy having control of some of the top flight clubs.

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death… I assure you it is much, much more important than that.”

When Bill Shankly made this memorable quote he may not have had politics in his mind but he certainly proves that you cannot underestimate the world of football.

In 1934 a time of heightening tension throughout Europe, saw Italy take on Austria. It is perceived that Mussolini, the Italian Dictator handpicked the referee’s for the World cup semi-final game. Italy won the game 1-0 and went on to beat Czechoslovakia in the final. But the game itself was one that the expression 12 men could truly be used, “The referee even played for them," said Austrian striker Josef Bican. "When I passed for the ball out to the right wing, one of our players, Cicek, ran for it and the referee headed it back to the Italians. It was unbelievable." Is winning really that important in a political sense?

Another example of politics in football was in 1958. Algeria was in a war of independence at the same time the World cup was taking place. France opted to give some of the Algerian players in France the opportunity of fame and glory by playing for their national team. However when the tournament rolled around the Algerian players fled the French National team, gathered at the headquarters of the Front Liberation National in Tunisia and launched an "illegal" national team, risking arrest for desertion in the process.

National Identity is something that many people feel very strongly about, whether that is political beliefs or just the pride of being affiliated with a nation of great history.

Was Di Canio’s Fascist salute towards the Lazio fans in 2005 then overstepping the mark? He has gone on record as saying “I’m a fascist, not a racist” but does that still justify him to use a salute that is infamously associated with so much evil. In his autobiography Di Canio talks of admiration for the Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini, saying that Mussolini was simply “misunderstood”.

                                                           Paolo Di Canio's Fascist Salute playing for Lazio in 2005

The Greek National team recently banned Giorgos Katidis from playing international matches for life, due to his Nazi salute in a goal celebration. This is the first stance we have seen from a football governing body in relation to political views. In a sport where racism, homophobia and sexism are not treated with enough respect, is fascism going to be added to the list of concerns not tackled in the game?

Maybe football is more than a matter of life and death, maybe it is a sport that is simply bigger than everything else.